Honey wine made with beets from Detroit? Try it on Mead Day

Cellarmen's in Hazel Park introduces canning of meads and ciders straight off the tap.

Biodynamically-grown beets from ROI Urban Farms in Detroit are an ingredient in Beat Your Meade (13.5% alcohol by volume), a special release Aug. 5, 2017 at Cellarmen's in Hazel Park.(Photo: Cellarmen's)

An earthy, purple vegetable makes a craft-beverage appearance Saturday in Hazel Park: Detroit-grown beets were combined with black currants for an all-Michigan honey wine made at Cellarmen's for nationwide Mead Day.

Beet Your Meade (13.5% alcohol by volume), a magenta-hued mead, was created using biodynamic beets grown at ROI Urban Farms near Palmer Park on Detroit's west side, according to Cellarmen's meadery, cidery and brewery.

Mead (or honey wine), known as the oldest of alcoholic beverages, is made from fermenting water and honey. Michigan is home to some of the the world's best meads, with products from metro-Detroit mead makers Schramm's Mead, Kuhnhenn Brewing Co. and B. Nektar Meadery all among the RateBeer.com top rankings.

The first Saturday in August was designated Mead Day by the American Homebrewers Association in 2002 "to increase mead awareness and foster camaraderie among mead makers," according to the association.

Cellarmen's beet mead will be offered at $60 per 375-milliliter bottle. The beets were produced through biodynamic agriculture, "a type of organic farming that uses holistic and self-sustaining methods to achieve ecological, social and economic sustainability," according to the news release.

The honey is from Michigan wildflowers, and the currants are from Coon's Berry Farm in Coleman. In addition to the bottle release, Cellarmen's drafts ranging from 6% to 10% ABV and $6-$10 per glass are to include a strawberry and white pepper mead, a dry cyser (mead made with apples) aged in a peated Scotch barrel, and piña colada mead.

The event, which also includes food for sale from TruckShuka food truck, runs 1 p.m.-midnight at Cellarmen's, 24310 John R Road in Hazel Park. More information is available on its Facebook page.

Here are several other Mead Day events Saturday across metro Detroit:

B. Nektar

The B. Nektar Taproom is located at 1511 Jarvis in Ferndale, MI.(Photo: John Froelich, Special to the Free Press)

The meadery, cidery and brewery's ninth-anniversary Summer Mead Fest includes a release of #DragonsAreReal (14% ABV) mead made with tart cherry juice, chipotle peppers and cacao nibs and aged in bourbon barrels that previously contained Dragon's Milk imperial stout from New Holland Brewing Co. It will be sold for $24.99 in 375-milliliter bottles.

Both meads are available at $36 per 375-milliliter bottle, with Marionberry limited to two per person, per day (there's also a Sunday release) and Heritage limited to one per person perday, according to the Schramm's Mead Facebook page. 1 p.m.- midnight, 327 W. Nine Mile in Ferndale.

Dragonmead Brewery

Dragonmead Microbrewery of Warren, MI, pulled 8 different brews from their distinctive tap handles during the 6th annual Detroit Fall Beer Festival on Saturday, October, 24 2015.(Photo: John Froelich, Special to the Free Press)

A variety of meads will include Blueberry (14% ABV), Ambrosia (14% ABV), Chocolate (14% ABV) and more at the taproom, which regularly offers more than 40 varieties of beer and 15 meads and wines.

Special releases are to be announced soon, according to the Dragonmead Facebook page. 11 a.m.-11 p.m., 14600 E Eleven Mile, Warren.